The annual consortium meeting for the SmartAqua4FuturE project was hosted by CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research) in Porto, Portugal on 18-19th September 2025 and attended by Richard Newton and John Bostock for the University of Stirling.

*Dr Richard Newton presenting on the workpackage led by the University of Stirling*

The primary objective was to review progress on the seven workpackages of the project and coordinate future collaborative activities. As this was the third year of the project a good part of the basic research has been completed, with the key challenge now being to bring the findings together into a coherent analysis and planning for dissemination and future exploitation. As may be expected, some of the circular economy innovations had not worked as well as hoped and modifications are being made for further testing. Some have proved very promising at least at the technical letvel, so future work will focus on assessing sustainability metrics and economic feasibility.

Following the main meeting, visits were made, firstly to a pilot algae farm near Aveiro which is a collaboration between Green Aqua and Algae 4 Future. The companies are developing both culture and biorefining technologies to produce a range of products including functional food ingredients.

*Rui Pereira from Algae for Future introducing the company activities*

The next visit was to RIASEARCH Lda., a contract research company with facilities for trials on different fish and shrimp species. They have a particularly close association with Sparos, the Portuguese nutrition company which was a partner in the EU GAIN project.

The final visit in Portugal was to the CIIMAR main laboratories which are in the spectacular cruise terminal at the harbour. Laboratories and offices are in a circular pattern around a central atrium, encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations.

The following day the group moved to Salamanca in Spain to visit Tebrio, a partner in the SAFE project and producer of mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), mainly for use in the animal feed sector. The company have just embarked on a major new investment in production and processing facilities with the first of six large buildings completed. The 70 million euro invstment is expected to produce over 100,000 tonnes of insect products each year.

*The first of the new production units for Tebrio was almost complete*

The group then moved to Valencia to participate in the European Aquaculture Society Conference. This was preceded by a joint meeting between the SAFE and AWARE project members. The AWARE project is funded under the same Horizon Europe call as SAFE and is working on aquaponic systems linked with municipal wastewater treatement. Both projects showcased their work and discussed potential collaborations, especially with respect to future training events.